Quang Ninh: Ha Long city to make tourism breakthroughs

Quang Ninh (VNA) – As a big
tourism centre of the northern province of Quang Ninh, Ha Long city is aiming
to make breakthroughs in services development, especially tourism.

Ha Long now has 595 tourist accommodations, including
100 one to five star hotels; 30 shopping centres and restaurants; 500 cruise
ships, including 169 standardised overnight tour boats. Tourism services in the
city have increased in both quantity and quality.

Thanks to its favourable location, Ha Long
has attracted big groups and businesses in tourism with the most noteworthy
projects being the Ha Long Ocean Park of Sun Group, the Vincom commercial
centre and the five-star resort in Reu islands, both of Vingroup, and the Times
Garden complex of My Way Group, among others.

These projects have created momentum for development,
particularly tourism, in the city.

Multiple large cultural, sport and tourism
events have been held in Ha Long such as the Cherry Blossom Festival and the
Carnaval Ha Long.

However, Ha Long has failed to fully tap its
potential to make tourism an economic spearhead.

Most tourists to the city vacation in Ha
Long Bay, with very few visiting other local tourist destinations like museums,
libraries and historical relic sites.

Ha Long has a long road ahead to build a
strong tourism brand due to poor tourism products and lacking infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, Ha Long has issued a
resolution on turning itself into a high-quality tourism centre for 2016-2020.

At the same time, to improve tourism on Ha
Long Bay, the city has focused on building regulations for 2016-2020.

The city has sent inspection teams to ensure security, order and safety, while moving
illegal seafood business houseboats to the designated area at Cua Van.

It also directed the Ha Long Bay management board and the municipal centre of
communication and culture to popularise information on tourist attractions and
ticket prices while monitoring cruise ships.

Recently, the municipal People’s Committee
announced a plan on sight-seeing sites, service facilities, rest areas and
shops for visitors at Cap Tao Bay in Ha Long, which will create more tourism
products and services and generate jobs for locals.

The city is expected to welcome 6 million
holiday-makers in 2016, including 2.7 million foreign arrivals, earning 6
trillion VND (264 million USD) from the sector and generating jobs for 27,000
labourers.

The locality is set to pocket 20 trillion
VND (880 million USD) from serving 8 million vacationers, including 3.5
foreigners, by 2020. -VNA